Small-tire racing is overflowing with Fox body Mustangs, you can practically trip over them in the staging lanes. There’s nothing wrong with the classic Fox body platform, but some racers simply want to stand out from the crowd.
Eric Russell is one of those people, and he’s built a wild 1985 Ford Thunderbird that is far from subtle.
Anything powered by an internal combustion engine has always captured Eric’s attention. Growing up, he would tinker with old lawn mowers people were throwing away just to see if he could get them running again. From there, things escalated quickly. Soon, he was working on quads, dirt bikes, motorcycles, and eventually cars.
Naturally, that passion evolved into motorsports.
“There’s just something about the adrenaline,” Eric says. “I started out racing friends on the street, then eventually made my way to Atco Dragway in New Jersey. I watched a friend race a quad, fell in love with the atmosphere, and I’ve been around racing ever since.”
Why a Fox-Body Thunderbird Instead of a Mustang?
When it came time to choose a platform, Mustangs simply didn’t appeal to Eric the same way they did to everyone else. However, he understood the advantages of the Fox body chassis for drag racing applications.
Fortunately, 1980s Thunderbirds share the same Fox-platform DNA.
Eric had previously owned a 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe that he swapped a Ford 5.0 engine into, so the platform already held a special place for him.
The Thunderbird ultimately offered Eric the best of both worlds: Fox-body performance potential with a much more unique appearance.
He purchased the current car in 2013 from a local No Time and street racer. Over the years, the Thunderbird has gone through several different combinations, including:
- A carbureted nitrous-fed LS engine
- A single-turbo LS setup
- A twin-turbo LS combination.
But Eric wanted to push things even further with the latest iteration of the car.
A Supercharged 427 LS Combination
Powering the Thunderbird today is a 427 cubic-inch LS engine built by Lorenzon’s Fast Flow Cylinder Heads.
The combination starts with a Dart block and features:
- A Sonny Bryant billet crankshaft
- R&R aluminum connecting rods
- Ross pistons
- Crower steel shaft-mount rocker arms
- Frankenstein cylinder heads
The biggest change to the combination is the power-adder setup.
Eric turned to Darren Mayer at DMPE for an X275-spec 8-71 roots supercharger. Sitting on top of the blower is a carbon-fiber and titanium hat from Bohr Racing Products.
A Rossler transmission and Circle D torque converter transfer power to the rear tires.
The Thunderbird’s chassis was built by K&S Race Cars and uses TRZ suspension components paired with custom Precision Racing Suspension coilovers built by Adam at Precision Racing Suspension.
A Unique Dual Fuel System Setup
One of the most unique aspects of the Thunderbird is its fuel system configuration.
“The fuel system gets pretty involved because there are actually two complete fuel systems on the car,” Eric explains. “It runs a total of 16 Atomizer fuel injectors. Shawn at Alchemy Engineering built a single-body, dual-outlet fuel pump that runs off the camshaft.
“One outlet feeds the port injectors like a conventional EFI engine setup. That side runs through a boost-referenced fuel pressure regulator for rising-rate fuel pressure under boost.
“The second outlet feeds the eight larger injectors mounted in the blower for idle and cooling purposes. That side uses a static fuel pressure regulator without a boost reference.”
Managing the entire combination is a Holley Dominator EFI system tuned by Jeff and Patrick Miller from Bumblebee Racing.
What’s Next for the Thunderbird?
Now that the Thunderbird is finally complete, Eric has begun shaking the car down at the track. Early testing has shown a tremendous amount of promise.
Looking ahead, Eric is considering mounting a set of 28×10.5 tires on the RC Components wheels and taking the Thunderbird into the world of No Prep racing.
The Team Behind the Build
Eric was quick to thank the people who helped bring the project together.
“I need to thank Jason at JE Speed for all the fabrication work he did on the car. Troy at Racewires did an amazing job with the wiring and tech support. Jack at Atomizer Racing Injectors helped get the EFI setup figured out. Chris at Maher Automotive helped me dial in the chassis and provided excellent track support.
“All the tuning help from Jeff has been great. The blower we got from Darren at DMPE is perfect. Finally, I need to thank Mike at TinMan Fabrication for the carbon-fiber work on the interior and for giving me the space to build the car.”
The Thunderbird Eric Russell created is the result of years of hard work and a desire to build something unique. In a world filled with Fox-body Mustangs, Eric’s supercharged Thunderbird proves you don’t have to follow the crowd to go fast in drag racing.
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